EC summons Bengal Chief Secy to explain non-removal of 'tainted' officers

A day after the West Bengal Government wrote to the Election Commission of India that it didn't intend to suspend just yet its officers alleged to have committed "irregularities" in electoral roll revision, the poll panel on Tuesday summoned state Chief Secretary Manoj Pant to Delhi to explain the decision, sources said.

The state's top bureaucrat was directed to report in person to Nirvachan Sadan, the ECI headquarters, in the national capital, by 5 pm on August 13. The move came in response to Pant's communication to the ECI on Monday, stating that suspending the identified officers and filing FIRs against them, as directed by the poll panel, would be "disproportionately harsh" and have "demoralising impact" on the officers' community in Bengal.

The government, instead, chose to remove two of the five ECI-identified officials from active election duty for now and initiate an "internal inquiry" into the matter. It is interpreted by observers as a fresh flashpoint in the ongoing face-off between the Mamata Banerjee government and the ECI.

Sources in the state secretariat 'Nabanna' said the Chief Secretary was likely to fly to Delhi on Wednesday and meet the Commission, as directed. -- PTI